Tower running is a

sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...

which involves running up tall man-made structures. Usually the races take place on the internal staircases of

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

s, but the term can cover any foot race which involves a course that ascends a man-made structure. Tower running races often take place at the world's tallest structures, including

Taipei 101 The Taipei 101 (; stylized in all caps), formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, is a 508 m (1,667 ft), 101-story skyscraper in Taipei, Taiwan. It is owned by Taipei Financial Center Corporation. It was Council on Tall Buildings ...

(

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), Menara Tower (

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

Willis Tower The Willis Tower, formerly and still commonly referred to as the Sears Tower, is a 110-storey, story, skyscraper in the Chicago Loop, Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, United States. Designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer F ...

(

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

CN Tower The CN Tower () is a communications and observation tower in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Completed in 1976, it is located in downtown Toronto, built on the former Railway Lands. Its name "CN" referred to Canadian National, the railway co ...

(

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower from 1887 to 1889. Locally nicknamed "''La dame de fe ...

(

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

), Varso Tower (

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

), Tower 42 (

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

), Eureka Tower (

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

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(

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

), the

Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story, Art Deco-style supertall skyscraper in the Midtown South neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its n ...

( New York), the Bitexco Financial Tower (

Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

), and the Torre Colpatria (

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

). Races are held in either time trial or mass-start format and attract elite athletes from various sports, often with large sums of prize money. The results of more than 160 races on all continents are evaluated each year for the Towerrunning World Cup. The most important – about 15 so called "Masters Races" – have a predefined factor of 1.5 to 4, whereas all other races are given 0.5 or 1 depending on the class and internationality of the participants.

History

One of the first known reports of stair running took place in London, England in 1730. A barman at the Baptist Head Tavern on the

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

took part in a challenge to see if he could run up the 311 steps of the Monument to the Great Fire of London and back down again in three minutes or less. He managed to complete the challenge in 2:32, which was deemed ‘an extraordinary performance’. The first recorded competitive stair race was held on

Bastille Day Bastille Day is the common name given in English-speaking countries to the national day of France, which is celebrated on 14 July each year. It is referred to, both legally and commonly, as () in French, though ''la fête nationale'' is also u ...

(14 July) 1903 in Paris. Organised by a publication called ''Revue Sportive'', the event took place on the steps of the famous Rue Foyatier in the 18th arrondissement of the city. In 1905 the first known tower race was held at the

. It took place on Sunday 26 November and was organised by a publication called ''Les Sports''. The magazine's aim was to pit champions and elite athletes from various sporting traditions against each other in the ultimate test of fitness. Runners, cyclists, footballers plus amateurs were all among the 283 people who took part in the first ever tower race. The event was repeated again in 1906, and the course record was broken. Further events followed at the Eiffel Tower in 1946 and 1995. After a 20-year break, tower running returned to the Eiffel Tower in 2015 with the inaugural La Verticale de la Tour Eiffel event. That race has now become one of the premier events on the tower running circuit. In 1968, the sport made its debut in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Teams from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

and the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

went head-to-head at the

BT Tower The BT Communications Tower, also known simply as the BT Tower, is a Listed building, grade II listed Radio masts and towers, communications tower in Fitzrovia, London, England, owned by BT Group. It has also been known as the GPO Tower, the P ...

in London, with the Edinburgh team taking victory. That inter-university event was repeated in 1969 and 1970, after which there were years of inactivity for the sport in the UK. Tower running made its debut in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1978, when Fred Lebow organised the first Empire State Building Run Up (ESBRU). The ESBRU event has run every year since, except for being canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19, and is the longest continuously running stair racing event in the world. Several more races popped up in the US, and at other venues around the world, such as Singapore, throughout the 1980s, and the sport has been slowly growing since. 2015 saw the inaugural

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

, Qatar, with Andrea Mayr (AUT) and Piotr Łobodziński (POL) crowned champions. The 2018 World Championship was held on 5 May at Taipei 101 in Taiwan. Piotr Łobodziński (POL) retained his title, while Suzy Walsham (AUS) won the women's title. The planned 2020 World Towerrunning Championship event at Taipei 101 was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

References

External links

Official website of Towerrunning World AssociationVertical World Circuit websiteTower Running UKStair Life - USA stair climbing websiteTowerRunning PolandA step up – what is it like tower-running up a 35-storey building? (The Guardian)
{{Racing unassisted human Running by type

History

See also

References

External links